Peach Shortcake Cookies

I had lots of peaches that had finally ripened and, only being able to eat so many in one day, I set about on a quest to find a recipe to use them up. I didn't want to do a pie or crumble or crisp or anything else predictable. I came across a recipe for strawberry shortcake cookies. Like the classic dessert, but in portable to-go cookie form. Genius! I substituted my peaches for strawberries, made a couple of adjustments to the recipe, and I was rockin' and rollin'.

You should not confuse shortcake with the sponge cake often used (incorrectly) in "strawberry shortcake." Shortcake is more like a sweet biscuit and is leavened with baking powder. The dough is really easy to make; in fact, just as easy as any other cookie dough. You can use almost any fruit in this recipe: peaches, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, apricots, etc, so get creative!

Ingredients:

• 3 cups chopped peaches (leave skin on) or any other fruit you want to use
• 1/2 cup sugar, divided
• 2 cups pastry flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into cubes
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 375F. 
2. Toss fruit with 2 tablespoons of sugar and set aside.
3. Combine the remaining 6 tablespoons of sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. Add in butter and mix with hands until it resembles course crumbs. Then stir in cream and vanilla. Finally, add fruit and mix together. 
5. Drop dough (about 2 tablespoons) onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper or use silmats, leaving 2 inches between cookies. 
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown and edges are slightly crispy. 

Sticky Buns

Fluffy clouds of ooey-gooey deliciousness is the best way to describe these! The dough itself is rich, soft, and moist. But the highlight of the sticky buns, is the glaze: sweet carmelized sugar and slightly salty, it finds its way into all the crevices between layers of dough so every bite is like party that melts in your mouth. This is a sure way to impress so make these for on a special occasion or holiday for breakfast or dessert. I'm usually not a big fan of sweets, but these sticky buns are amazing. And when fresh out of the oven, they are to die for!

Sticky buns are rolled pieces of rich, leavened dough that are compressed together into a baking loaf or pan which is lined with a sticky glaze. As it is baked, the glaze bubbles up and is absorbed into the buns, getting all in between the layers of dough. After cooling, the pan is turned upside-down so the glaze ends up on the top of the buns. You have to scale ingredients and there are many steps, but it is not hard. The final product will be well worth it!

Ingredients- Dough:

• 4 oz butter (you can substitute 1-2 oz of butter for shortening to make dough easier to handle)
• 4 oz sugar
• 0.4 oz salt
• 1 oz non-fat milk solids (dried milk)
• 3 oz eggs
• 8 oz water
• 0.525 oz dry instant yeast (fast acting or rapid rise)
• 1 lb bread flour
• 4 oz cake flour
• cinnamon-sugar

Ingredients- Glaze:

• 1 stick butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup corn syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup toasted pecans (optional)

1. Start by making the dough. Using a paddle in an electric mixer, cream together the butter, sugar, salt, and non fat milk solids. Then slowly add in the eggs, allowing them to incorporate before adding more. Next, add in the water. In a separate bowl, combine the yeast ad flours. Then add in the flour to form a dough. You can add a little more cake flour if dough is too loose. Switch to a dough hook and knead for 4 minutes.
2. The dough will need to ferment for 1.5 to 2 hours at 75F. Be sure to cover it so it doesn’t dry out. While the dough is fermenting, make the glaze. Cream together all ingredients using a paddle in an electric mixer. Spread the glaze onto the bottom of a pan with tall sides (and sprinkle with pecans if using), such as a roasting pan, and cover.
3. Once the dough is done fermenting, transfer it to a floured surface. Fold the dough 2-3 times. Then roll out into a rectangle. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Roll dough into log and cut into 8 even pieces. Place the rolls into the pan, resting on top of the glaze. Cover and let proof for 30-45 minutes.
4. Bake at 375 for 30-35 minutes. Glaze will be bubbly and buns will be browned.
5. Let cool for 5-10 minutes and then turn pan over onto parchment paper.

Sugar-Vanilla Clouds, aka Marshmallows

You have officially been warned. No store bought marshmallow can ever compare to these homemade marshmallows. They are ultra fluffy and light; you might as well be eating a cloud of sugar and vanilla! They will give your hot cocoa a special touch or just eat them alone (my husband does!). They even toast up nicely over a campfire and will make the most ooey-gooey s'more ever.

Ingredients:

• 3 packages unflavored gelatin
• 1 cup ice-cold water, divided
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup corn starch
• non-stick spray

1. Place the gelatin into the bowl of a stand mixer along with 1/2 cup of the ice-cold water. Have the whisk attachment standing by. 
2. In a saucepan combine the remaining 1/2 cup ice-cold water, granulated sugar, corn syrup, and salt. Place over medium high heat, cover, and allow to cook for 3-4 minutes. Uncover, clip a candy thermometer onto the side of the pan, and continue to cook until the mixture reaches 240F, about 7-8 minutes. Remove from the heat. 
3. Turn on the mixer to medium-low speed, and while running, slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl into the gelatin mixture. Then turn mixer to high speed and continue to whip until the mixture become thick and is luke-warm, about 12-15 minutes. Add the vanilla during the last minute of whipping. 
4. Prepare the pan while the marshmallow is whipping. Combine the powdered sugar and corn starch in a small bowl. Pour this mixture into a 9x13 pan and toss around to coat evenly. Return the remaining mixture to the bowl for use later.
5. Once the marshmallow is done whipping pour it into the prepared pan, using a lightly oiled spatula for spreading evenly into the pan. Dust the top with the cornstarch mixture and reserve the rest for later. Allow the marshmallows to sit, uncovered, for 4 hours. 
6. Turn the marshmallows out onto a cutting board and cut into 1-inch squares using a pizza wheel dusted with the cornstarch mixture. Once cut, lightly dust all side of each marshmallow with the remaining cornstarch mixture. 
7. These are ready to serve, or store in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.

Salted Caramel Ice Cream

I'm not really into sweets, but when it's ice cream I have little self control. I can and will eat a pint of ice cream in one sitting. So you can imagine my delight (and my fear) when I received an ice cream maker for Christmas. I had been holding onto a special ice cream recipe as I knew the day would eventually come when I could use it: salted caramel ice cream from non other than Rori herself.

Rori's Artisanal Creamy is located in my hometown of Santa Barbara. Their ingredients are organic, local, and super fresh, sourcing their dairy from Marin county, fruit from the farmer's market, and fair-trade chocolate from San Louis Obispo. Their commitment to quality is evidence when you taste their ice cream. I was watching the Barefoot Contessa on Food Network one Saturday morning when Rori made a guest appearance and shared her recipe for her salted caramel ice cream. This stuff is perfectly sweet and salty, and deliciously creamy.

You can also use this ice cream base recipe and add in all kinds of flavors. I made a sinfully rich dark chocolate ice cream by melting 7 oz of high quality dark chocolate and blending in 3/4 cup of heavy cream. Then I added that to the ice cream base with 1 tablespoon of vanilla. Delish!

Ice Cream Base:

• 1 cup whole milk
• 4 large egg yolks
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 cups heavy cream

1. Heat the milk in a sauce pan over medium-low heat.
2. Prepare an ice bath by setting a 2 quart bowl over a larger bowl partially filled with ice water. Set a strainer over the smaller bowl and set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until pale yellow in a color and the sugar has dissolved. Gradually pour in the warmed milk into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly. Pour the mixture back into the same saucepan you used to warm the milk. Cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring constantly, until the custard thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon.
4. Strain the custard into the top bowl of the ice bath to stop the cooking process. Add the heavy cream and stir over the ice bath until cool. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill thoroughly.

Caramel Sauce:

• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 teaspoons flaky sea salt, such as Maldon
• 1 tablespoon pure Tahitian vanilla extract

1. Heat the sugar in a dry heavy-bottom sauce pan over medium heat, stirring with a fork to heat the sugar evenly, until it starts to melt. Then stop stirring and swirl the pan so the sugar melts evenly, and continue cooking until it is a dark amber color. 
2. Carefully add the heavy cream (the mixture will splatter) and cook, stirring until all the caramel has dissolved. Transfer to a heat-proof bowl and stir in the sea salt. (Personal note: I use 1 1/2 teaspoons salt as I like it more salty)
3. Set the caramel mixture over a bowl filled with ice water and stir until chilled to room temperature. Combine the caramel mixture with the ice cream base and add the vanilla. 

Lastly, place the finished ice cream batter into an ice cream maker and finish using manufacturer's directions. 

Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

Oh. Em. Gee. You better have a serious sweet tooth to attempt these cookie gut-bombs. I love Oreos and I loved home made chocolate chip cookies, but these are more than just the sum of it's parts. Fresh out of the oven, the Oreo's center is warm and gooey. Be sure to have plenty of milk on hand when you serve these up.

Ingredients

• 24 Double Stuf Oreo cookies
• 1 batch of your favorite cookie dough (I just follow the Nestle's Toll House recipe, leaving out the nuts for this recipe)

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Wrap each Oreo in a small layer of cookie dough. Make the layer as thin as you can. If it's too thick, it will spread out too much. 
3. Bake for 12 minutes or until slightly golden. 

Key Lime Pie

Key lime pie is, hands down, my most favorite food. I just love that it's tangy, but sweet, fresh, and creamy. 'Nuff said. 

Key limes, originally from Malaysia, were brought to Florida by the Spanish in the 1500s. They are smaller than a golf ball, pale yellow-green in color, and are more acidic than regular limes. The first known key lime pie was made in the late 1800s, by Aunt Sally, a cook for William Curry, who was Florida's first self-made millionaire. However, many people say that Aunt Sally just perfected the popular delicacy of the area.

Aficionados will argue over the proper way to make a key lime pie. Graham-cracker or pastry crust? Meringue on top or whipped cream, or neither? Cooked or uncooked filling? Personally, I like a graham-cracker crust and whipped cream. A chemical reaction occurs between the lime juice and the condensed milk so there is no need to cook it, but most people chose to because of the raw egg and because it helps the filling set more firmly. The one thing that everyone does agrees on, is that under no circumstances should you ever add green food coloring. The filling of authentic key lime pie is a light yellow.

My key lime pie consists of 3 parts: graham-cracker crust, filling, and whipped cream.

• Graham-cracker crust: In a food processor, blend together 1 package of crushed graham-crackers, 5 tablespoons of melted butter, and 1/4 cup sugar. Press the mixture into a pie tin and bake at 350 for 8 minutes.
• Filling: Using electric mixer on high-speed, whip 3 egg yolks and the zest of 3 key limes for about 5 minutes. Slowly add in 1 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk and 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract (the vanilla is my secret ingredient). Turn speed to low and slowly add in 1/2 of key lime juice, but don't over mix at this point. Taste and if it's too tart, add some sugar, or if it's too sweet, add more key lime juice (I like it tart so I added more lime).
• Pour the filling into the pie crust and bake for 10 minutes at 350. Let cool and then place in fridge for at least 2 hours before serving.
• Garnish with fresh whipped cream (made from 1 cup whipping cream and 1/3 cup powdered sugar) and some lime zest.

Pastel de Tres Leches

My husband and I just spent a weekend in San Francisco. One of my favorite places to go while I'm in that area is a market in Oakland just across from the Rockridge BART station. It has the most breathtaking selection of meats, cheeses, wine, and an amazing little bakery. Having never tried tres leches cake, but hearing about it more and more, we went for a slice of it. One slice was apparently not enough because the day we got home my husband decided he is going to make a tres leches cake.

While cake soaked in milk sounds soggy and kinda icky, it is actually delicious. It's something you have to try to believe. Tres leches cake is a vanilla pound cake or butter cake that is soaked in 3 kinds of milk: heavy cream, evaporated milk, and sweetened condensed milk. It is moist and decadent, but not mushy. A light Chantilly cream (a fancy way of saying sweetened whipped cream) is the perfect topping for this rich cake. Tres leches cake is extremely popular in Latin America where it originated. Nestle claims they created the cake in an effort to increase canned milk sales, but it's history is unclear.

He picked out an Alton Brown recipe (isn't he amazing, by the way?) which you can find here. We did change up the whipped cream topping though. Using an electric mixer, we beat the cream on medium until thickened and you have soft to medium peaks, being careful not to over whip or it becomes grainy.

Bacon and Chocolate Chip Cookies, Perfected

It took me lots of experimenting to finally get this recipe right. You don't have to be a bacon fanatic like me to enjoy these either! Just think childhood breakfast: chocolate chip pancakes, bacon, and maple syrup. Yummm!

There are 3 pieces to this cookie:

1. The chocolate chip cookie. Just follow your favorit recipe or the Nestle Toll House recipe on the back of the chocolate chips bag, but leave out the nuts. I usually like my cookies soft, but you'll want these more on the well-done side. I find using a silicone baking mat works great as you can cook them longer, but they won't get too hard.
2. The bacon. Buy a good quality bacon! And you will need lot of it: about a pound per 2 dozen cookies. Cut the bacon into small piece and cook in skillet over medium heat until it's crispy and almost burning. Remove bacon and place in bowl lined with a paper towel to absorb the excess grease. Sprinkle with salt and some brown sugar, and toss to coat evenly.
3. Maple frosting. You don't need as much frosting as you think you will need. These amounts will more than cover 2 dozen cookies. Melt 1 tablespoon butter and stir in 1.5 cup of confectioners sugar. Add 1 tablespoon maple extract and 1/2 teaspoon salt. You will need to add a splash of water in order to mix it into a smooth paste. If it's too liquid, add in more confectioners sugar. If it starts to harden up, you can zap it in the microwave which re-melt the butter.

Now that you have your 3 components, you need to assemble. Spread just enough frosting on each cookie for a thin layer, and then press on some bacon crumbles. Taste the cookie and it's it's too sweet, you can also sprinkle on some more salt. If it's too salty, use a little more frosting. Let frosting set before storing or serving.

Chocolate Cloud Souffle

Taking a bite out of a souffle is like eating a cloud. A delicious cloud.

A souffle consists of 2 parts: the base and the lift (the eggs). The base of the souffle should be about the same consistency as thick cream sauce so the souffle is not weighed down. The base should be fully cooled before adding in the whipped egg whites. Over-mixing the whipped egg whites into the base will cause the air trapped in the egg whites to deflate, so fold the whipped egg whites in gently. Lastly, serve it as soon as it comes out of the oven as a souffle will fall after just a couple minutes of being taken out. Your guests will wait for the souffle, but the souffle will wait for no one.

Ingredients:

• 7 oz semisweet chocolate chips
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 large egg yolks
• 3 tablespoons warm water
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 8 large egg whites
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
• garnish: confectioners sugar, fruit, or caramel sauce

1. Brush 6 6 oz ramekins with butter, then coat with sugar. Place them in the freezer.
2. Set oven rack in lower third of oven and preheat to 400 F.
3. Put the chocolate and butter in a medium heatproof bowl and place over double boiler. Stir the chocolate until it's melted and smooth. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract. Set aside.
4. Combine egg yolks and warm water in a large bowl and beat with electric mixer until frothy. Gradually add 2 tablespoons sugar, and continue beating until ribbons form, about 5 minutes.
5. Lightly fold the yolks into the chocolate mixture.
6. Place the egg whites and lemon juice in clean bowl and beat with electric mixer of medium speed until frothy. Then gradually add the 1/2 cup sugar and increase speed to high. Beat until the whites hold a stiff but not dry peak.
7. Working quickly, fold about a third of the egg whites into the chocolate to lighten; then fold in the remaining whites until blended.
8. Gently spoon the souffle mixture into the ramekins and place on a baking sheet. Level the surface with a straight edge, scraping any excess mixture back into the bowl.
9. Immediately bake until the souffle rises about 1 1/2 inches from the ramekins, and the tops are touched with brown, about 18-20 minutes. Remove the oven, garnish, and serve immediately.